


The Other End of Time

by SerialObsessor (ibelieveinturtles)



Series: Winter's Future [2]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies)
Genre: Advent Calendar, Christmas, Crack, Darcy Lewis is Tony Stark's Sister, Darcy has her own AI, F/F, F/M, Gen, I'm gonna trope the trope outta this trope, Multiple Births, Multiple Pregnancies, Ridiculousness, Time Travel, Triplets, Twins, Unplanned Pregnancy, WinterShock - Freeform, paradoxes, quads, time swap
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-22
Updated: 2016-12-22
Packaged: 2018-09-11 00:43:11
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,006
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8946256
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ibelieveinturtles/pseuds/SerialObsessor
Summary: Darcy time swaps with herself, and lands in 2017.





	

**Author's Note:**

> People asked for what happened to 2016 Darcy in the future, so here it is! 
> 
> ****Warning****
> 
> This probably contains spoilers, so read up to chapter 15 of Schroedinger’s Advent Calendar first. :-) Actually maybe read up to at least chapter 17...

 

 

**The Other End of Time**

  
December 15th, 2017

 

  
*•°~☆~°•*

 

  
Jane and Darcy were waiting in the lab. The old doodad was sitting in the middle of the room, rescued from its mothballed position at the back of the cupboard, given a thorough check up, and declared, “Well it's already happened, so it must work, right?”

  
Jane plugged it in, but before she turned it on, she sat next to Darcy in one of the comfy, ergonomic chairs she'd bought right after last year's appearance.

  
“God I'm so glad I ordered one of these for myself as well,” she declared as she tried to get comfortable. “Of all the things you didn't tell me, why did this have to be one of them?”

  
“Paradox remember Janey?” Darcy said as she too tried to get comfortable.

  
“I'm really starting to hate that word. How long have we got?” Jane asked, craning her neck to look at the clock behind her.

  
“Another five minutes or so?” Darcy replied, rubbing her belly.

  
“Right. Helva?”

  
“Yes Jane?” the voice emanating from the ceiling was richer, and more robust these days. A complete overhaul of the facility in recent months had allowed them to replace all the speakers and cameras when Helva had been expanded into the rest of the facility. She was still Darcy's AI but now she not only acted as friend, confidant, assistant and secretary to all the Avengers and the staff, but she also mothered every single person on base. Including the actual mothers-to-be themselves.

  
“Is Nat on her way down yet?” Jane asked.

  
“Natasha will be here in a couple of minutes Jane, and the entire lab area will be locked down and prohibited to all other staff for the duration,” Helva reassured them.

  
“Oh good,” Jane sighed. “Now Darcy, you remember everything you have to tell me? Don't forget, you were acting confused, as if you weren't expecting the time swap.”

  
“Don't worry Jane, I'll say the right things. I already have, remember?” Darcy replied. “Oh look, here's Nat. Early, oh, and she brought food!”

  
“Darcy, Jane.” Nat put the tray of food she was carrying down on the table, before leaning down to give each of them a gentle kiss on the cheek. “How are you feeling?”

  
“Like a beached whale,” Darcy replied, at the same time that Jane said “The sooner these kids start popping out the better. I'm so over this.”

  
Nat didn't even try to suppress her chuckle. “Helen's feeling the same way,” she said. “So was Maria last time I spoke to her, and Sharon spends most of her time complaining.”

  
“I swear, if Bucky doesn't gut those Hydra assholes for doing to this to us, I'm gonna do it for him,” Darcy muttered darkly. “And don't you even think about telling me that's not a good attitude for my babies. It's the best attitude!” she finished indignantly, rubbing her belly lovingly at the same time.

  
“Darcy, it's time!” Jane waved at Natasha to help them up, and followed Darcy over to the machine.

  
Natasha helped Darcy down onto the floor, and then stepped clear.

  
“Now remember, you can't tell past me about anything that she can't see with her own eyes, okay?”

  
“Like you said Darcy, we'll say the right things cos we already have,” Jane informed her. “Are you ready?”

  
“Ugh, ready as I'll ever be,” Darcy grumbled from the floor. “Who's stupid idea was it to put me down here anyway? You know, this was a bad idea, it'll be perfectly fine if I just…”

  
“T minus 30 seconds,” Helva announced, cutting Darcy off mid rant.

  
Jane and Nat stepped back out of range as Helva counted down.

  
“Past Darcy is going to be just as much trouble, isn't she?” Nat stated as their Darcy continued to bitch and moan on the floor.

  
“Hmm, probably. She certainly won't be happy about essentially being kept prisoner down here until she swaps back,” Jane said with a distinct lack of empathy in her voice.

  
“Ten, nine, eight…” Helva had reached the pointy end of the count down.

  
“Five, four, three…”

  
“Well here goes nothing,” someone said as Helva activated Jane's doodad, and a familiar bright light filled the room. When it cleared, a different Darcy was lying in the middle of the floor.

 

  
*•°~☆~°•*

 

  
As the light filled the room, Darcy felt the world tilt, and she fell heavily to the floor. For a moment she would have sworn she could feel the actual rotation of the earth, but just as she thought she was going to throw up, it stopped, and she was clinging to the laboratory floor like she was about to slide right off it.

  
She lay there for what seemed like an eternity, trying hard to breathe normally when she heard Jane's voice from somewhere behind her.

  
“Darcy? Darcy! Are you okay? Talk to me Darcy.”

  
Darcy groaned, and rolled over. “Jane, how many times have I told you, no turning things on unless I've checked everything first? You could have…” she opened her eyes, and was shocked into silence. For about two seconds, and then her eyes went wide.

  
“Holy mother fucking… what the hell happened to you?” she blurted out. “You look like a blimp!”

  
“Gee, thanks Darcy,” Jane said good naturedly. “You're looking good too. You know, for someone who's just leapt forward in time. By exactly one year.”

  
Darcy sat up, gaping. “Bullshit. Time travel is not possible, you said so yourself.”

  
“Well I was wrong,” Jane said placidly. “Do you need a hand getting up, cos I'm not much use at the moment but I have a Natasha here if you need her.”

  
Darcy looked beyond Jane to see Nat leaning against the bench. She waved at her.

  
“Oh hey Nat. Why are you here?”

  
“Jane needed help with something,” Nat explained.

  
“What, there's something I couldn't help her with?” Darcy said indignantly as she climbed to her feet and dusted herself off.

  
“You,” Nat replied pointedly.

  
“Riiight,” Darcy said grumpily. “Now I don't know if I should be insulted or flattered.”

  
“Flattered. Always choose flattered,” Nat advised.

  
Darcy nodded. “I like the sound of that. Now, would one of you mind telling me what the hell is going on, and why Jane looks like she swallowed a watermelon?” Darcy eyed off Jane's belly critically, and then amended her statement. “Make that two watermelons. Janey, what have you and Thor been up to?” she said with a wink and a nudge.

  
Jane sighed. ”That, I'm afraid, is something you'll have to wait and find out for yourself. I'm really sorry Darce, but I can't tell you anything.”

  
“You what?” Darcy boggled at her friend. “What do you mean you can't tell me anything?”

  
“You are now at the pointy end of a very weird, paradoxical time loop. There are things that now have to happen, because they've already happened, and there's nothing any of us can do about it,” Jane explained.

  
Darcy blinked. “Bullshit. I am in control of my own life, and no timey wimey mumbo jumbo of yours is gonna change that.” She crossed her arms defiantly.

  
“Unfortunately, it doesn't work like that,” Natasha said softly. “Believe me, we've analysed everything we know about this situation backwards and forwards.”

  
“Huh, and there's the key,” Jane grumbled. “Everything we *know* wasn't everything that’s happened. A heads up about this,” she pointed to her protruding abdomen, “would've been nice.”

  
“I don't tell you about that?” Darcy asked after a short pause, a calculating look on her face.

  
“Oh crap,” Jane exclaimed. “That's my fault isn't it? Shit.”

  
Darcy giggled, and then frowned again. “So you're really not going to explain any of this to me?”

  
Both other women shook their heads.

  
“Huh, well that sucks.” She stared at them for a moment, and then stood up and barged towards the door. It didn't open.

  
“What the… let me out. Let, me out, NOW!”

  
“Sorry Darcy, I can't do that,” came the dulcet tones of Helva.

  
Darcy looked up, startled. “Helva? You're still here?”

  
“Of course Darcy. You put the plans for my full integration in motion shortly after your time swap with 2017 Darcy.”

  
“Helva!” Nat said sharply.

  
Darcy spun around. “2017 Darcy? You mean future me? Where is she? Me? I? Where am I?” Darcy was sounding more puzzled with each pronoun.

  
“*Our* Darcy is currently in 2016, when you just came from. You swapped places,” Jane explained.

  
“Oh gods, I think this is giving me a headache,” Darcy groaned as she rubbed her temples. “So basically, you won't tell me anything, you won't let me out, and I'm stuck here for… how long? Any ideas there?”

  
Jane's face brightened up. “ Oh that I can answer, you'll be here for about an hour.” They all looked at the clock. It had been about fifteen minutes so far.

  
“Oh sweet baby Jesus,” Darcy groaned. “I'm in hell aren't I?”

  
Nat pushed off the bench, walked over to the door and put an arm around Darcy's shoulder.

  
“Actually you're hungry, both you and our version of you complained that time travel made you very hungry. I've got a tray of some of your favourite foods over here, so come and eat.”

  
Darcy allowed herself to to be led back to the table, where she sat down and looked at the tray. She frowned.

  
“Since when have bananas been one of my favourites? I mean, they're okay, but I wouldn't call them a favourite. And what is this?” she held up something that looked pastry like, but greener.

  
Jane and Nat exchanged glances. They'd forgotten a very important factor - how much Darcy's tastes had changed over the last nine months. Nat recovered first.

  
“I knew I should have gone myself. I'm so sorry Darcy, I sent a list through to the cafeteria, they must have mucked it up.”

  
Darcy shrugged. “Eh, food’s food, and you're right, I AM starving.”

  
Jane and Nat sat in relative silence while Darcy ate. And ate, and ate. She chattered away aimlessly in between mouthfuls, trying to get the other women to let something slip, but they both remained tight lipped.

  
After she finished eating Darcy continued with her fruitless mission to wring more information out of Jane and Natasha, until they were down to the last few minutes of the expected hour. Jane was just taking another look at her doodad when Nat frowned as she looked at something outside the lab doors.

  
“What the hell are they doing here?” she muttered as she stood up. “Everyone was told to stay away.”

  
Darcy and Jane turned around in surprise to see Steve and Bucky standing in the corridor. They both had excited expressions on their faces, and then Bucky's gaze landed on Darcy, and as surprise and shock spread over his face he just stared at her as though she was the last person he expected to see right then. She stared back, confused and unsure of what was happening as his face shut down, and he turned away from her.

  
Nat's eyes flickered between the two of them, and she swore. She pushed Darcy behind her, “Keep her here,” she told Jane, and striding swiftly towards the door, she asked Helva to please let her out and then lock the damn door again.

  
"Why is he looking at me like that?” Darcy asked as she tried to step towards the door, but Jane grabbed her hand, and Natasha was dragging Steve and Bucky back down the hallway. “You can't go out there, you'll be going back anytime now. Look, you're starting to glow. It's time for you to go back.”

  
“What?” Darcy looked down at her arms as the light surrounding them spread and grew. “Janey, I don't understand what's going on here. Why can't you just tell me something, anything?” she begged.

  
Jane drew her into a tight embrace. “It's okay Darcy, everything's going to be fine, you'll be fine. Just trust us, okay? We love you, and we just want you to be safe and happy. Please, just trust us.”

  
“Okay, I trust you, of course I trust you Jane,” Darcy replied soggily.

  
They drew away, teary smiles on their faces, “How many have you got in there anyway?” Darcy asked as she gave Jane's bump a quick caress. “You're huge.”

  
“Only two, thank goodness,” Jane hiccuped. “Oh, you're really going now. I love you.”

  
Jane took several awkward steps backward.

  
“Oh, it's pretty,” was all Darcy had time to say before the light took her.

 

  
*•°~☆~°•*

 

  
“What the hell are you two doing down here?” Nat hissed at them as she flew through the door, grasped them by an elbow each, and pulled them away from the lab doors.

  
“Maria and Sharon have both gone into labour,” Steve said. “They're both in the maternity ward.”

  
“Sharon’s in labour? Wait, she's here?” Nat looked both scared and excited at the same time, then she recovered herself. “You still could have waited another five minutes,” Natasha snapped, “And you.” She turned to Bucky. “Couldn't you have shown some kind of positive emotion instead of shock, and staring at her like that? And then you turn away from her! Did you see the look on her face? She’s probably going to go back thinking that you don't like her or something now.” She hit him, hard. “Idiots, both of you!”

  
“This is why you didn't want us down here?” Bucky said accusingly. “The time swap?”

  
“Yes. She never said anything about seeing you or Steve while she was here, so we had to make sure that Jane and I were the only ones she saw, because we were the only people she that she told us she saw!” Nat said, then stopped and rubbed her head. “I am so glad this is over for us. That was confusing as hell.”

  
“Um, actually she did tell me that she saw me during her time swap. Last year, not long after our first date,” Bucky confessed, running his hand through his hair. “I forgot what day it was though, I thought she was at home.” he said sheepishly.

  
Nat and Steve stared at him in disbelief, and then they both seemed to give up.

  
“Like I said, I am so glad this is finally over.” Natasha paused for a moment. “But Darcy's right, you are an idiot,” she said fondly.

  
“Sorry Nat,” Steve apologised, “I guess we just got excited and didn't think…”

  
“Well hopefully everything has happened the way it was supposed to happen,” Nat sighed.

  
“She's leaving,” Bucky said softly. Natasha spun around to watch as 2016 Darcy disappeared in a glowing ball of light. All three rushed into the now unlocked lab.

  
Their Darcy was sprawled on the floor, hands wrapped protectively around her stomach. Steve helped Bucky to sit her up, and then stepped back as his friend sat on the floor, cradling Darcy against him as they waited for her to regain consciousness.

  
“So how are Sharon and Maria doing?” Natasha asked with concern now that the local drama was over.

  
“Sharon says she started feeling things late last night, but didn't want to disturb anyone. She's doing well, asking for you, but doing well. Maria's only just started but Sam's already freaking out like a boss, so they came in straight away.” Steve replied happily.

  
They all looked at Jane, who shook her head. “I'm good, not so much as a twinge yet.”

  
Darcy was beginning to stir in Bucky's arms.

  
“Bucky?” she whispered, reaching up with a hand.

  
“Right here sweetheart. How are you?”

  
“Ugh,” she groaned. “Forgot how horrible the return trip was, but I'm good.” She smiled up at him, “I can't believe you knew about the babies the whole time though. You did such a good job of being surprised when I first told you about this.” She pointed at her belly and sighed. “The look on your face... I will treasure that moment for the rest of my life.”

  
“Yeah, well finding out you're gonna be the father of triplets when you haven't even kissed the girl yet will do that to a man,” Bucky said laconically.

  
“I should probably be worried that you can keep secrets from me so well,” Darcy said sternly, “but I'm trusting you to only use your powers for good.”

  
“Maria and Sharon have both gone into labour,” Nat said from the sidelines. “Do you need to go up there?”

  
“They have?” Darcy struggled to sit up. “Ooh, that's exciting. I'm good though, nothing here but some wicked Braxton Hicks so far, but they could probably use some support.”

  
“You sure they're just Braxton Hicks?” Jane asked. “You have just made a two way trip through time, and if Sharon and Maria are both in labour, then you and Helen could both go at any time.”

  
“I'm sure Janey,” Darcy replied with a tired smile.

  
Steve and Nat helped Darcy and Bucky to their feet, and the small group headed for the new maternity wing.

  
“How did it go?” Bucky asked Darcy quietly as they trailed behind the others.

  
“Good, it went good, although I was very surprised when you and Steve showed up. Well done to everyone for keeping **that** secret.”

  
“We didn't have much of a choice once Jane bamboozled us with talk of paradoxes,” Steve called back.

  
“Dude, can't you turn those ears of yours off once in awhile?” Darcy complained.

  
“Nope. Anyway, I reckon I'll have a lot of need of them real soon,” Steve retorted happily.

  
Darcy snorted and nudged Bucky, “The way he goes on, you’d think he was the one expecting quads wouldn't you?” she sniggered.

  
“It somehow doesn't seem right that Sam's the one who's having four babies,” Steve observed.

  
“You say that now,” Natasha said mildly as they arrived at maternity.

  
They stood at the doors for a moment.

  
“So,” Darcy said as she put her hand on the door. “Are we all ready for this?”

 

 

  
*•°~☆~°•*

 

 

 

   
  


**Author's Note:**

> Yeah, yeah I know, now you want to know how everyone ended up pregnant at the same time… Anyway, patience little padawans, that too will get written, sooner or later. (personally, I think a better question might be, is that all of them???)
> 
>  
> 
> I figured that if I'm going to write the pregnancy trope, then I'm gonna go to town with it!!! Bwahahaha!!!!!


End file.
